Devices using Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) and/or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) connectivity for Internet access are frequently either battery-powered or otherwise benefit from minimizing power consumption, particularly when not being utilized. The Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) of IEEE 802.11 provides a power saving mechanism (PSM) allowing nodes to remain silent in a sleep mode. However, various issues can cause actual use of the PSM to unnecessarily consume power.
Further improvement to slot-based power save poll is needed. There is, therefore, a need in the art for improved power save operation in using wireless network connections.